History Book: When seconds mattered

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. A quick note before we continue: our next story includes details that may not be suitable for younger listeners. So we'll pause for a few seconds now before moving ahead.

Up next, a story that begins with a single heartbreaking crime—thirty years ago this month—and ends with a nationwide response. 

WORLD’s Emma Eicher has the WORLD History Book.

EMMA EICHER: It was 30 years ago on a January afternoon when a 9-year-old girl named Amber was kidnapped in broad daylight. Amber was with her younger brother Ricky. He remembers that day in a documentary about Amber’s disappearance.

RICKY HAGERMAN: We would always ride our bikes around the neighborhood, and we did it very often …

It was warm and sunny in Arlington, Texas. Amber and Ricky had just arrived at their grandparents’ house and went out for a ride. Amber had just gotten a new bike for Christmas—a pink one.

Amber’s mom, Donna, remembers when they took off.

DONNA WILLIAMS: And I just hollered down, ‘Ya’ll stay together and y'all come right back.’ And Amber turns around and she looks at me, ‘Okay, Mommy, we will.’

The kids usually just rode around the block and came right back. This time, they didn’t.

RICKY: But that day we took a left, where we weren’t supposed to go. We went to an abandoned parking lot that had a little ramp we could ride down.

Worried they might get in trouble, Ricky turned back. Amber stayed while her brother biked home alone.

When their grandfather asked where Amber was, Ricky said she was still in the parking lot.

RICKY: He grabbed me and put me in the truck and we went to go look for her. We just found her bike laying there.

Around the same time, someone nearby called 9-1-1.

911 OPERATOR: Arlington 911, what are you reporting?

CALLER: Yeah I saw a black pickup pull up over here on Abram Street and he grabbed a little girl and he took off toward town with her. … She hollered real loud, ‘cause I could hear it plumb over here. So that’s what made me think there was something foul about it.

OPERATOR: Okay, we’ll be out there shortly, sir.

That caller was a neighbor who lived near the parking lot. He gave police a description. Patrols started pulling over black pickup trucks all over the city. And officers called local media to spread the word.

Local news crews surrounded the family’s house, interviewing Donna and Amber’s dad, Richard.

DONNA: Please bring her home safe, please. 

RICHARD HAGERMAN: If anybody out there has seen anything, call the police, tell 'em, let 'em know.

As the search widened, investigators turned their attention to Amber’s parents—Donna Williams and Richard Hagerman—and the grandparents, as family members are often the first suspects in abduction cases.

By day three, they were all cleared. 

Police worked round the clock. Every lead, a dead end.

Day four, the search was over.

911 OPERATOR: Arlington 911, what are you reporting?

CALLER: Uh, yes ma’am, my neighbors are yelling right now. They’re saying they found the little girl’s body that they’re looking for.

A man walking his dog found Amber’s body in a creek.

More than 2,000 people attended her funeral. Police kept searching for the murderer, but the case turned cold.

JOHN BISCHOFF: And unfortunately, her murder, her untimely death, horrific, still remains unsolved today. 

That’s John Bischoff. He works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He says what happened to Amber forced the community to ask what could be done differently.

BISCHOFF: The community, you know, were looking for answers. One person, a lady by the name of Diane Simone, suggested a program to notify the public when a child was critically missing.

Simone began looking for a faster way to get the public’s help. At the time, there was already an Emergency Alert System used only in the most extreme situations.

But Simone wondered if it could be used for local crimes too, specifically for child abduction.

BISCHOFF: And hence started the first iteration of what an AMBER Alert is today.

With help from police and local media, the AMBER Alert system was established later that year in Arlington, Texas, named for Amber Hagerman. And also forming an acronym standing for "America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response."

SOUND: [AMBER alert]

It was first used in Amber’s hometown in 1997.

REPORTER: This is an activation of the AMBER Alert system at the request of the Arlington Police Department. Arlington police say a child, a 2 month old, white female baby has been kidnapped …

The alert led police to that baby within 13 hours of her disappearance. She was the first of many rescued children.

BISCHOFF: When an AMBER Alert’s involved, about 89% of the children are recovered within 24 hours.

By 2003, the AMBER Alert became a national program, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children began collecting statistics on its effectiveness.

BISCHOFF: So it’s actually really effective. If you take a look over time to all the AMBER alerts that have gone out, only 40 remain still active today.

For Ricky Hagerman, it’s a bittersweet comfort to know that his sister’s tragic death created a chance for other children to be saved.

RICKY: Every time I hear an AMBER Alert, I say to myself, ‘It’s time to go to work, sis. Do your thing.’ I just wish that Amber had something in place at the time.

This story draws select audio from the documentary Amber: The Girl Behind the Alert. If you want the full account, the film is available to stream on Peacock.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Emma Eicher.

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